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4. [[underlined]] Rabenoveta [[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]] Montgomery County, Maryland, et al. [[/underlined]]

On August 17, 1982, Montgomery County, Maryland, as third-party plaintiff, named the Smithsonian Institution as a third-party defendant in a replevin action pending in the District Court for Montgomery County, Maryland. The issue before the Court pertains to the ownership of a historical three-inch platinum medallion, issued as a commemorative in 1932 by the U. S. Mint at the request of the "U. S. Commission for the Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of George Washington." Records of that Commission indicate that one of only three such medals ever issued was given to the Institution. The Institution has no record of receiving the medallion as reported by the Commission. Montgomery County, Maryland, is in possession of one of the three medals, and believes it to be the one destined for the Institution but possibly lost or stolen prior to delivery. The first-party plaintiff is the administrator of the estate of one of approximately six prior possessors of the medallion. The United States Attorney for the District of Maryland has removed the action to the federal district court; representation of the Institution is being provided by the U. S. Department of Justice.

There have been no significant developments in the following cases, which have been reported previously to the Board.

5. [[underlined]] Dance [[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]] Ripley [[/underlined]] (racial discrimination) - Filed August 1978 in the U. S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Awaiting trial date.

6. [[underlined]] Epps [[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]] Ripley [[/underlined]] (sex discrimination, mental distress) - Filed March 1981 in the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Motion to dismiss for procedural and jurisdictional insufficiency, filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Institution, denied March 11, 1982. Trial is tentatively set for January 1983.

7. [[underlined]] Petition of the United States on behalf and for the benefit of the Smithsonian Institution, Trustee [[/underlined]] (petition for construction of provisions of the J. Seward Johnson and Hunterdon Medical Center School of Health gifts) - Filed February 1977 in the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Decision issued January 31, 1980; order and judgment on the decision entered February 29, 1980. Final order and judgment entered on July 1, 1981, confirming prior findings in the February 29, 1980, order. No appeal of the July 1, 1981, decision taken. Request for the award of attorneys' fees filed by Harbor Branch (and opposed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Institution) pending.

8. [[underlined]] Thomas [[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]] United States [[/underlined]] (patent infringement - Smithsonian/University of Arizona Multiple Mirror Telescope) - Filed January 1980 in the U. S. Court of Claims. Pretrial discovery proceedings under way. No trial date set as yet.